What Does 1 Corinthians 9:10 Mean in the King James?
Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Hope here is not waiting outside the harvest; it is the expectation of having a share in it.
THE MEANING
Your labor and its fruit are not meant to be strangers to one another. Plowing and threshing unfold under one expectation: the worker has a share in what the work brings forth. The harvest is still ahead, but the hope of sharing in it is already present in the labor.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that you must labor while remaining excluded from what your work produces.
THE ROOT
μετέχειν
metéchein
GROWS FROM
μετά + ἔχω (metá + échō)
To have with; to share in something.
“partaker” in this verse is metéchein. The Greek phrase points toward μετέχειν (metéchein, “to share in”) as what the thresher hopes for. The worker is pictured as having a share in the yield, not as standing apart from it.
ALSO GROWS
métochos: One who shares in something.
μέτοχος
The same word family makes participation a relationship to what is shared, not merely a payment received from outside.
metochḗ: A share or participation in something.
μετοχή
This branch brings out the shared portion contained in the verse’s image of a worker partaking in the harvest.
ἐλπίδι
elpídi
GROWS FROM
ἐλπιδ-
Expectation or hope directed toward what is anticipated.
The verse repeats ἐλπίδι (elpídi, “in hope”) for both plowing and threshing, then directs that expectation toward sharing in the yield. Hope is not detached from the work; it reaches into the labor as its anticipated fruit.
ALSO GROWS
elpís: Hope or expectation.
ἐλπίς
The noun names the forward-looking expectation that accompanies the labor in this verse.
elpízō: To hope or expect something.
ἐλπίζω
The related verb shows hope as an active orientation toward what is anticipated.
THE PATTERN
Those who labor toward a harvest are shown as participants in its fruit, not cut off from it.
Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.THE THREAD
For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?Both verses use ἐλπίς (elpís, “hope, expectation”) and ἐλπίζω (elpízō, “to hope, expect”) to hold attention toward what is not yet seen. Romans names hope’s forward reach; this verse gives that reach a concrete shape, the worker expects to share in the harvest.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us